As chairman of ArtsQuest's board of trustees, Joe Pietrantonio has helped navigate the nonprofit as it opened new venues at SteelStacks, introduced Musikfest venues to the South Side and found a replacement for ArtsQuest founder Jeff Parks, who retired...

When she really needs to concentrate, Kassie Hilgert closes the blinds to her ArtsQuest office. The view of south Bethlehem distracts her.
Through windows framed by the stone arches of what was once Bethlehem Steel's stock house, Hilgert can see the...

Friday, Aug. 7
Jolly Joe Timmer Band, 6 p.m. Festplatz. For most of Musikfest's 31 years, regional polka band leader Jolly Joe Timmer traditionally played the festival's first notes each year at Festplatz. Timmer passed away July 27, but his band will...

Musikfest, the 10-day music festival that each year draws 1 million people to downtown and south Bethlehem, has undergone perhaps the biggest change in its 32 years: It's the first year under Kassie Hilgert, new president of ArtsQuest, the nonprofit...

Musikfest, the 10-day music festival that each year draws 1 million people to downtown and south Bethlehem, has undergone perhaps the biggest change in its 32 years: It’s the first year under Kassie Hilgert, new president of ArtsQuest, the nonprofit...

Sands Bethlehem Event Center, whose ticket sales have made it the third-busiest club-size venue in the world for the first half of 2015, has just sold out another show in a flash.
Joe Walsh, who in a 40-year career has been the guitarist for country-rock...

Musikfest is now less than a week away, and while some of the massive downtown Bethlehem festival’s 11 headline acts are selling very well – with sellouts within striking distance – others aren’t.
It may be a surprise that, with all the attention on...

Musikfest isn't the only big thing going on in South Bethlehem next week.
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms Youth program will have its own stars coming to town at the Steel Ice Center, just down the street from where the biggest music stars will be hitting the...

"American Idol" winner David Cook, 10,000 Maniacs and shows by Musikfest favorites Philadelphia Funk Authority, bluesman Mike Dugan, The Large Flowerheads and Celtic-folk group Scythian are among the 10 new performances announced for the...

First came the burst of saxophones. Then the tenor voices sang: "Ho, ho, ho. They call him Jolly Joe."
Every Thursday night for years, the Lehigh Valley's polka faithful gathered around TVs to watch "The Jolly Joe Timmer Show" on...

Sands Bethlehem Event Center, which sold enough tickets to public events in 2014 to make it the sixth-busiest venue of its size in the world, is selling tickets as a pace this year to make it No. 3 in the world, according to mid-year rankings released...

You can count on Philadelphia radio station WXPN-FM’s annual XpoNential Festival in Camden’s Wiggins Park and Susquehanna Bank Center, which started Friday and concludes today (July 26) to have good headliners – and it did Saturday in rockers My Morning...

One indication of the success of the Americans with Disabilities Act, signed into law 25 years ago Sunday, is that its younger beneficiaries are apt to take it for granted.
Having grown up with the ADA's many fruits — curb cuts, designated parking,...

Musikfest scored an ace with its annual golf tournament July 6 at Bethlehem Golf Club.
The 132 golfers who took part in the four-man scramble helped to raise more than $15,000 to support ArtsQuest's music, arts and education programming, including...

Snoop Dogg’s command of the Lehigh Valley music scene on Aug. 15 won’t end with his final song on the main stage at Musikfest in Bethlehem, an Allentown nightclub says.
Snoop Dogg will assume his disc jockey persona DJ Snoopadelic for a two-hour set...

Sheila E, the Grammy Award-nominated singer and percussionist who in the 1980s had two Top 10 hits and played in Prince's band, will kick off Zoellner Arts Center's 19th season, it was announced Tuesday.
The show will be part of a season of more than...

Sheila E, the Grammy Award-nominated singer and percussionist who in the 1980s had two Top 10 hits and played in Prince’s band will kick off Zoellner Arts Center’s 19th season, it was just announced.
The show will be part of a season of more than 60...

Moravian Book Shop, which bills itself as the world's oldest book shop, is about to land the makers of one of the world's oldest beverages.Colony Meadery, which makes alcohol from fermented honey, is opening a new tasting room next month at its historic...

A zip line and four new rides will be among the family-friendly highlights at Musikfest, the massive Bethlehem music festival set Aug. 6-16 this year.
The festival this year also will offer a new light-up Musikfest kids’ mug
The 200-foot zip line at...